LOUISIANA, a country in North-America, bounded on the south by the gulf of Mexico, on the east by the river Mississippi, on the west by New Mexico, and on the north by an unknown country. It extends from the 29th to the 40th degree of north latitude, and from about the 8th to the 96th or 97th degree west longitude from London. The climate of Louisiana varies according to the latitudes. The southern parts are not so hot as those parts of Africa which lie under the same parallel, and the northern parts are colder than the countries of Europe at the same distance from the pole: the causes of which are supposed to be the thick forests which over-run the country, and the great number of rivers; the former preventing the sun from heating the earth, and the latter supplying it with moist vapours; besides the cold winds which come from the north over vast tracts of land. They have bad weather; but it never lasts long, for the rain generally falls in storms and sudden showers; the air is wholesome, the inhabitants healthy, and they who are temperate live to a great old age. The country is extremely well watered; and almost all the rivers that run through it fall into the Mississippi, which discharges itself into the gulf of Florida.